Newcastle United Are Just Flying – To Be Honest

Newcastle star goalkeeper Tim Krul has come out today and given a very positive interview.

Man of the Match Tim Krul at final whistle on Wednesday That’s before Newcastle take on Aston Villa at St. James’ Park on Sunday afternoon, in the early kick off game at 1:30pm.

If Newcastle can win that game, and Chelsea lose to Manchester United in the later game on Sunday, it could be that Newcastle are in joint 4th place on Sunday night, on 42 points and level with Chelsea. 😀

It’s certainly not beyond the realms of possibility, and of course we will have Demba Ba back and we all look forward to the debut of his Senegal team-mate and top striker, Papiss Cisse, in black and white stripes.

Since Demba Ba left Tyneside for the African Cup of Nations, Newcastle have had three league games, and won at home to QPR and at Blackburn on Wednesday night, and lost at Fulham, but 6 points from those 3 games isn’t too bad at all.

Newcastle also beat Blackburn at home and lost at Brighton in the FA Cup, while Ba was in Africa.

And after the 2-0 win at Blackburn on Wednesday, manager Alan Pardew came out yesterday and said that Newcastle will have a go at trying to get into the top four in the league, and that’s fine, as long as we don’t get too far ahead of ourselves.

But Tim Krul is just as positive this morning, and this is what Newcastle’s top goalkeeper, who has been on Tyneside since the summer of 2005, had to say about the club:

“We are 23 games in and we’re fifth. That is no fluke, we deserve that position and that gives us the belief that we can really achieve something this season,”

“Of course we believe in ourselves now. We deserve to be there and it is up to us now. We’ve had a disappointing couple of games and we know what was being said outside the club, but we always believe in each other.”

“That is the most important thing for this season. We know what our targets are and believe me, we’re far above them. We’re flying, to be honest – our confidence is sky-high and we’re more than ready for Sunday’s game.”

“We’ve seen everything at this club over the last few years and we’ve had lots thrown at us already this season. But everyone believes in each other, everyone works for each other and that’s the most important thing.”

“It’s 11 people on the pitch who really just want to work hard for each other, they want to win for each other and they are desperate to do well.” “The major plus over the last few weeks has just been the attitude of the boys.”

“We said before the Blackburn game that if our attitude is right then we can beat anyone in the league and we firmly believe that,” “We fought for each other – there were tackles, blocks, a clearance off the line again.”

“I think Wednesday was a proper Premier League game.” “There is definitely relief that the transfer window has passed,” “It is fantastic that we have been able to keep the squad together and, on top of that, we now have a top class striker added too.”

“That’s the way we will progress as a football club.”

Newcastle’s squad players have come through for the club again in the absence of Demba Ba and Cheick Tiote, and the added absence of Yohan Cabaye on Wednesday night, as Ryan Taylor, Danny Guthrie and James Perch have come in and given solid displays for the side.

And it looks like James Perch may have to play a really important role for Newcastle on Sunday afternoon against Villa, as he will probably get the defensive central midfield spot and partner Danny Guthrie in midfield, after he put in a first class performance there in the second half at Blackburn.

That’s what good squad players are for, and they cannot expect to play every game – but they are very important to every team and Danny Guthrie, Ryan Taylor and James Perch have become good and important players for Newcastle this season.

The goal for Newcastle now through mid-May is to qualify for the Europa Cup, and if we can do that we’ll see a number of new players come through the door during the summer, since we’ll have a lot more games next season, and will need a bigger squad.

But we also think the squad will be a lot better too, and Newcastle are certainly headed in the right direction this season under Alan Pardew, who has received good backing from Mike Ashley and Derek LLambias.

It’s got to be onward and upward through the final 15 games of the season, and we may just shock ourselves as to where we end up in the league table come mid-May.

4th spot is on were 3pts off it, media n r own fans of been writing us us b4 the season even begin, but what this set of players has proved over the last 2&half seasons is right them at your peril, no thought we wud get promoted n we strolled back up then no one thought we wud stay up n we did n finished mid table, now we’re rebuilding the squad n were 5th exciting times ahead

If we were taken some decent center back in january I will have no doubt that we can compare for CL spot or EL but I’m not so sure… against Blackburn we have a hell of a luck and this can’t last forever. Perchy make a good game against Brighton as CB but before that against premierleague strike force he was awful.

Douglas (Free) Corgnet (CM) Need cover for more games etc A young Striker (poss rhodes or Zaha) Pieters (Pardew and Carr like him and hes versatile)

There may be players we dont even know about yet. Look at the Summer, we are never idle in that window and usually do our business very early.

I think Carr and his team already have the work done for summer recruitment. Its amazing where we are! I honestly feel that with the right additions in the summer we will develop into a serious top 4 club.

When that happens the rumours of players leaving will decrease.

Cant wait for Sunday. The Dembas first then my Beloved New York Giants are going to smash the Patriots in the Superbowl. (Im not American in case you wonder, i am Durham Born and bred, just a fan of NFL haha

At the start of the season I said that the top six are untouchable but after that I see no reason why we cannot be the next best club competing with the likes of everton, villa, stoke anf fulham etc. If we can finish seventh this season then great, any lower now will be a disappointment. If we can become a consistent top seven club like everton were a few seasons back then I really think we could push on and have a crack at the top four in a few years time. Safety may be assured so now like pardew as said every remaining game is a cup final because we have a really good chance of finishing anywhere between 7th and 4th which is great. I would love to finish fourth even if we went out of the champions league in the qualifiers, just to state we had finished in the top four recently would be an achievement in my eyes due to their being six or seven potential candidates if you include us. I thought the top six spots were untouchable but the guys are doing a good job of proving me wrong. The timing of our injuries/suspensions have been quite lucky, we get the dembas back earlier than expected and when cabaye gets a ban.

Jonas does look tired, him, Simpson, Krul and cabaye have played the most games for us but I think its effected Jonas the most. Maybe Obertan or Ferguson should start with Jonas coming on as an impact sub. Ben Arfa for me has to be in the eleven just because even on an off day he could produce at any minute. Rooney often is annonomous during games but pops up with something spectacular.

I think we might struggle against Villa defensively because they have quick, nimble strikers which we have always found difficult to cope with. Somebody suggested playing Perch instead of Willo in the back four which at first sounds crazy but when you think about it makes a lot of sense against Villa.

As much as i would love champions league football the thought of the long hard trek that is europa league worries me a bit. We could start playing in July travelling to the far ends of Europe week in week out- not many teams with bigger squads than ours like the tournament and the money is not too great. I will probably get slated but i do not fancy Europa league. Keep the Faith

cannot understand that there has been no reaction to hoilett dive in media ….also same ref lee probert “sees” incident in spurs game not dangerous .but after seeing cabaye says it was… if toon finish in european spot it will really upset fa and media,,,,

The point has long gone when the “experts” can use that reason for our lofty position. Above Arsenal and Liverpool (I’ll be a really happy man if we can finish above ‘pool)) and within touching distance of top 4 with all our top players back for the final run in. I really don’t understand anyone with negative thoughts on our progress right now.

i see no reason why we can’t push on. the only real disappointing parts of the season were the draw at home with swansea, the loss to WBA and losing so comprehensively to an average liverfool and folding to fulham. could’ve been an extra 5 points.

trying not to be too disheartened by the form of the last 12 games, 4 wins, 3 draws, 6 losses (liverfool, chelski, city, wba, norwich, fulham).

all this and we’re missing 6 first team players: saylor, tiote, cabaye, marveaux, cissé, ba. with abeid and vuckic coming through we don’t need any more CMs. maybe hoilett. plus douglas, m’biwa, and one of rhodes or de jong and we’ll be up there again next season.

if we were to get fourth, how refreshing would it be? the whole country would be supporting us over spurs and city. we only have about 4 really tough games between now and end of the season: spurs, arsenal, chelsea away, liverpool and city at home.

would really like to see marveaux back soon. he’ll be the missing link so i really hope once he’s back fit we can keep him going.

keep ya feet on the ground lads. Blackburn were woeful in front of goal, yet created dozens of chances. If we do the same on Sunday, we will be punished make no mistake. We have a long way to go before we start thinking about 4th (or even staying in 5th). Villa will be a sterner test than the relegation certaianties of Hoofball-on-Ewood. Like Pardieu (sic) always says, take one game at a time.

we are 5th in the league and doing ok , however the perfornances have got to improve. wednesday was a gutsy performance . we had a lot of luck and to be honest i wouldnt expect to get turned over the way we did against blackburn. the football has got to get better , and not rely on our goalkeeper so much. Our goalkeeper is one of the best, however he can only handle so much before he breaks. from the back to front we must improve.

just flying? for Gods sake Ed, lets get a sense of reality please. But for a great penalty save, a deflection, and some pathetic finishing, this would have been a totally different game on Wednesday. We hardly played like a team that is flying…………..

I see a few negative commentgs again regarding the performance the other night. Just look back at the 1st half of the Fulham game though. Its easy because of the 2nd half collapse to have completely forget how good we were in the first half. We totally dominated the game with quick clever passing and instant closing down of the opposition. We really did look like a classy outfit. This of course makes the 2nd half even harder to fathom although I believe our players had already decided there was nothing to fear and that the game was won – against a rejigged Fulham with a point to prove – huge mistake made. Anyway the point I am trying to make is that our guys CAN play and I trust Pardew to get the level of consistency and control to see us home. I watched the game on Wednesday and was disappointed at our inability to retain the ball. However I know that we have the ability to play keep ball but sometimes don’t have the composure to do just that. Going back to Fulham – do you think that their fans were complaining about the performance at the end of the game despite being unable to get the ball for 45 minutes.

Dyer8: A few names there that I am not familiar with. To take us to the next level I personally would go with……

IN (summer) Tavernier (he will be ready by then, and is as good as a new signing) Hoilett (Blackburn will be relegated, and only then will I forgive the blatant dive!) Vertonghen (Ajax) or Mbiwa (Montpellier)

OUT Simpson (Just get him to sign up or ship him out!) Lovenkrands Shola (before I get accused of Shola bashing, he is simply not good enough at this level)

We need to bring in ‘European quality prospects’, not just ‘he might be good in a year or two, after impressing for Rochdale or similar’.

League Placement

health update

I was diagnosed with stage 4 prostate cancer in February 2017 and completed four months of chemotherapy in late July and will continue to have hormone treatment.

The cancer spread in the bones, but after having a number of CATscans last Friday the cancer has been stabilized and as of April 24th, 2018 it has not spread further.

There is no cure for Stage 4 cancer so I will continue to have CATscans and bone scans about every four months to check on the cancer.

It is as it is - I will do my best under the circumstances - it's another challenge.

Ed Harrison

Comments

The purpose of the comments is to allow Newcastle United fans and others to express their views on the news of the day concerning the Newcastle United Football Club.

We'd ask that you be civil towards other readers and refrain from obscene language and any comments on religion, ethnic groups or politics.

Let's make this work - and let's help the Newcastle United Football Club become great again.

Ed Harrison

Kacper Tylenda Website Designer

One of our avid readers Kacper Tylenda from Poland was the person who came in during April, 2017 and redesigned this web-site from top to bottom.

We think he did a fantastic job to modernize the site with the roll-out on Thursday May 18th surprisingly smooth.

I am so appreciative of his help.

Kacper is starting his own business in web-design so if you want a website built or know of people who want to redo their sites in any way – here’s his portfolio.

football club

It’s the noise, the passion, the feeling of belonging, the pride in your city. It’s a small boy clambering up stadium steps for the very first time, gripping his father’s hand, gawping at that hallowed stretch of turf beneath him and, without being able to do a thing about it, falling in love.